Why Business Success Services are not BS
Success is subjective. As a business owner you will have a vision about what you want your business to look like and where you want it to be in the next few years. More often than not however business owners fail to achieve this goal in the time frame they desire or even at all. This leads to a loss of the passion and enjoyment that should come from running your own business.
Set a goal, achieve the goal
The American Society of Training and Development found that people are 65 percent more likely to meet a goal after committing to another person. Their chances of success increase to 95 percent when they incorporate ongoing meetings with their accountability partners to check in on their progress.
Your accountant can typically be the best accountability partner, especially if they specialise as a business advisor. Big audacious goals are important, but breaking these down in to small, achievable goals over a shorter timeline will allow you to gain momentum and make the goal realistic and achievable.
Get off the dance floor and on to the balcony
In their book Adaptive Leadership, Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky describe “the skill of getting off the dance floor and going to the balcony – an image that captures the mental activity of stepping back in the midst of action and asking – What's really going on here?”
It is very easy for business owners get to busy with the task of “doing”. What we mean by this is, the job of selling or producing a product or service may consume all of the business owners time. This can lead to neglecting time to assess if there is a better way to undertake these actions, or understand if they are producing the financial outcomes that are leading to a bigger goal.
A big business discipline is regular board meetings. This may bring to mind pictures of people sitting around a huge table in a high rise building, the reality is that it has a specific function. Board meetings create a point in time where the decision makers for the business review performance, discuss whether it is in line with the larger growth plan and make decisions and set actions to be achieved before the next meeting.
Ask yourself the following questions:
• Do you understand why your profit and loss might be showing profit, but you are struggling for cashflow?
• Does your business have a documented 5 year plan?
• Does your business have a documented detailed 12 month cashflow forecast?
• Do you have a documented 12 month budget for your business that you regularly compare to actual results?
• Are you getting the personal financial gains you want from your business?
• Do you have a work life balance that you are happy with?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, then you would benefit from Business Success Services.
These services can range from assistance with generating a budget or one page strategic plan for the business, all the way through to monthly board meetings.
The benefits can include the following
• Undertaking a Business health check
• Understanding Financial Reporting, they aren’t just for tax purposes
• Business valuations – Do you know what your business asset is worth
• Key business metrics – what are the easiest ways to achieve more success in your business
• Business strategies
When to hire new staff
When to undertake a strategic acquisition
When to engage a marketing expert
If you believe your business could benefit from Business Success Services please contact us for an obligation-free chat.
Written by Matthew Feehan